A 62-year-old man who shot a woman in the hand and then held her at gunpoint for two hours inside his East Palo Alto apartment on Dec. 24, 2011, was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail, which the judge said he can serve at home with electronic monitoring.

The incident occurred after Donnie Weatherton accused Yasmin Jenkins of stealing his wallet, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. He eventually allowed Jenkins to leave and she called 911.

Jenkins subsequently told authorities that she was cleaning Weatherton’s apartment and he appeared to be under the influence of drugs.

When police arrested Weatherton on Jan. 5, 2012, he reportedly was carrying a handgun. A search of his apartment revealed two additional guns and ammunition, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors charged Weatherton with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting great bodily injury, false imprisonment while using a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

In a plea deal, prosecutors dropped the assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment charges; in return, Weatherton pleaded no contest on March 14 to two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

On Tuesday, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Karesh also sentenced Weatherton to three years of supervised probation and ordered him to abstain from drugs and alcohol and submit to chemical testing.

Weatherton’s defense attorney, Stuart Hanlon, said his client is a wheelchair-bound paraplegic who kept the guns for self-defense. “It’s a dangerous neighborhood,” Hanlon said. “He’s a sitting target in his home.” Hanlon also cast doubt on the credibility of Jenkins’ story but didn’t elaborate.

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